‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ In Season Again At Sony

EXCLUSIVE:Sony Pictures is rebooting I Know What You Did Last Summer, the 1997 horror flick that ended up grossing $125M worldwide and spawned a sequel the following year. Both starred Jennifer Love Hewitt. This one is being written by Oculus c0-writer/director Mike Flanagan and partner Jeff Howard who are adapting the 1973 Lois Duncan book again. Producing is Neal Moritz (Fast and Furious franchise) who also produced the original 17 years ago. If the budget is kept tight for the revamp of the popular horror movie about friends being stalked by a killer after conspiring to cover up a fatal car accident, it could be a very profitable venture for the studio.

Oculus, which was done on a micro-budget, opened to $12M and ended up grossing $40M worldwide. Universal has micro-budget horror master profiteer Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Films at their studio. Sources say that this picture is a high priority for Sony as they want to get it up and ready for 2016.

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Moritz is also producing 23 Jump Street for Sony, the three-quel. 22 Jump Street, which re-paired Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, has made over $300M worldwide for the studio.

The best performance to come out of the first I Know What You Did Last Summer, which also starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, was Anne Heche as the creepy Missy Egan. The remake is somewhat of a safe bet for Sony — a proven title that can be cast on the cheap and done on a lower budget.

The young horror maven Flanagan, who was born (appropriately) in Salem MA, began his career in the film industry only a short time ago after a Kickstarter campaign for the horror film Absentia which prompted Oculus (for Intrepid) and next year’s horror offering Somnia from Intrepid and Demarest. Relativity will distribute Somnia about a couple (Kate Bosworth and Thomas Jane) who discover their young foster child’s dreams manifests in the real world when he sleeps. It co-stars Annabeth Gish. Somnia was also co-written by Howard.

Flanagan and Howard sold their horror thriller Peekers to Lionsgate last year, after which the studio hired them to rewrite Exorcism Diaries. The duo is repped by APA and Joel Vanderkloot at Nelson Davis Wetzstein LLP.